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International Women's Day encourages women to use their vote during centenary year

International Women's Day encourages women to use their vote during centenary year

Published Thursday, 08 March 2018

Our elections team have joined forces with Councillors and staff members to recreate a protest scene from 100 years ago in order to encourage today’s young women to register to vote.

To mark International Women’s Day (today), and 100 years since Parliament passed a law which allowed women to vote for the first time, the group from Coventry City Council gathered on the Council House steps with sashes, banners and signs as part of the #Vote100 campaign.

Liz Read, Coventry City Council’s Electoral Services Manager, said: “Today is such a significant day for women worldwide, and 2018 marks a really significant anniversary in our history. 100 years on from a select group of women finally being able to vote, all women now thankfully have that right. We want to make sure that no one who wants to vote is missing out on making their voice heard and having their say, which is why we’re encouraging any young women that haven’t registered to vote yet to do so today.”

Just a century on from some women first being granted the right to vote in elections following fierce campaigning and debates, many young women in the UK don’t exercise their rights to vote and have their say in democracy.

The city has a long history with the suffragette movement, with Emmeline Pankhurst addressing a gathering of supporters in the Pool Meadow area of the city in January 1912. Gladys Stringer, wife of Sidney Stringer, was a prominent campaigner for women’s rights.